Terps Dominate Run Of Play, But Fall In OT To BC, 1-0

Maryland Athletics

10-27-2013

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – It was a disappointing ending to a quality effort for the University of Maryland women’s soccer team, which suffered a 1-0 overtime loss to Boston College Sunday afternoon at Ludwig Field.

The loss evens the Terps’ overall record at 9-9-0 and gives them a 5-7-0 mark in conference play with one game left in the regular season. The Eagles improved to 9-8-1 on the year and 5-6-1 in the ACC.

“I’m proud of the effort of our team today; it’s just too bad that they don’t have anything to show for that effort in the way of a result,” said Maryland head coach Jonathan Morgan. “We created opportunities today and were good in our attack. I though we possessed the ball well, especially in the midfield. The kids did everything we asked of them and we had more than enough opportunities to win this game. Unfortunately, another set piece proved costly.”

The finish came in the 95th minute on a corner kick by Lauren Bernard, which came directly after a corner kick that was knocked over the end line by the Terps and switched the corner from the far left to the far right side. Lombard drove the ball into the box where it deflected off of Zoe Lombard and into the right side of the Maryland goal.

Up until that point the Terps had been dominating the run of play since midway in the first half and generated numerous scoring opportunities.

The first great opportunity for Maryland came in the 19th minute when the Terps took advantage of a counter-attack chance. Senior Hayley Brock got a step behind the defense, but was nearly pulled down by her jersey as she raced toward the keeper. No call came from the official, who signaled advantage on the play. Brock’s effort earned a corner, but Maryland couldn’t convert that into a shot.

As the first half came to a close junior Alex Doody had a run into the box and got on the end of a cross by senior Megan Gibbons, but her shot rang off of the right post. The Eagles had their best chance of the match on a counter attack off of the Doody shot, but this time the post robbed BC as the Terrapin defense cut down Stephanie McCaffrey’s angle and her shot deflected off of the right post as the first half came to an end.

Maryland controlled much of the second half beginning right from the opening whistle.

Sophomore Ashley Spivey was the next victim of the frame as she drove a shot from the right corner of the 18-yard box that deflected off of the hands of Eagles’ keeper Alex Johnson. But luck wasn’t with the Terps as the ball went off of the upper right corner of the frame and bounced out of danger in the 47th minute.

Spivey showed off her touch in the 57th minute with a beautiful chip over the BC backline. Brock timed her move perfectly and got behind the defenders. She played the ball off of a bounce, but that was enough for an Eagle defender to drape herself on Brock’s back. Brock managed to get off a shot, but the defender bought Johnson enough time to come off of her line and smother the ball as it left Brock’s foot.

Spivey continued to create opportunities for the Terps in the 62nd minute, crossing a ball from the right side into the box. Brock was there and got on the end of it, but Johnson came barreling off of her line and Brock couldn’t snap the header down toward the goal and it sailed over the crossbar.

Maryland, which has been victimized by two unintentional handball calls in the box that resulted in penalty kick goals against the Terps, didn’t get the benefit of the whistle late in the second half when Boston College’s Casey Morrison lost her footing inside her own 18 and fell onto the ball with both hands. No call was made and play continued on despite the obvious handball in the box.

Brock tried to will Maryland to a win in the 86th minute when she took the ball near midfield and ran through the entire BC defense. She got inside the top right corner of the Eagles’ 18 and ripped off a shot, looking for the left side of the net, but Johnson came out and made the best of her six saves of the match to keep the Terps off the board.

Maryland has one final chance in regulation to take the lead. Spivey centered the ball at the top of the box for senior Kristen Schmidbauer, but her effort twisted just right of the post in the 87th minute.

The Terrapin defense did an outstanding job of containing Boston College’s high-scoring duo of McCaffrey and McKenzie Meehan, who each entered the game with 31 points on the season. Aside from the shot off of the post at the end of the first half, McCaffrey only had two other shots on goal, neither of which was dangerous. Meehan was held to just one shot on goal and that came on a free kick early in the second half.

Maryland wraps up its 2013 regular season on Thursday, Oct. 31 when Pitt travels to Ludwig Field for a 7 p.m. match. The Terrapins will honor their 2013 seniors – Brock, Kayla Clarke, Gibbons, Alex Reed and Schmidbauer – prior to the match.